Detours
by FreezeDriedRose
Summary: Some little side stories that go with my fic "The Longest Journey"
1. The Fantastic Four

**This isn't much of a story, it's more of a brief description of how the OCs introduced in chapter 8 of The Longest Journey became friends.**

* * *

><p>Alex and Kyle have been friends for as long as either of them can remember. As neither of them have any biological siblings they like to think of each other as brothers. They started attending the same dance classes as Dylan when they were twelve.<p>

Dylan occasionally hung out with the other two boys at school when they were in middle school, but when they started high school he joined the basketball team and ended up being drawn into the popular crowd. Around the same time, Alex officially came out, which surprised no one, but that combined with his and Kyle's general geekiness effectively alienated them from the social circles Dylan had become a part of. While Dylan was still friendly with Alex and Kyle at their weekly dance lessons, he didn't really associate with either of them at school.

At the beginning of their sophomore year, Dylan started to realise that he was just as attracted to one of his teammates as he was to any of the cheerleaders. He went to Alex for advice. With Alex and Kyle's support, it didn't take him long to accept that he was bisexual. He quickly learnt to take it in his stride.

At one point he asked Alex to kiss him so he could make sure he really was just as interested in guys as he was in girls. Alex consented because he had never been able to kiss a boy before and he wanted to know what it felt like. Dylan remembers that Alex is a great kisser. Alex remembers feeling like he was kissing his brother.

When Dylan came out, his 'friends' made it clear that he wasn't welcome in their group anymore, though they never actively bullied him. Dylan wasn't too upset about that as he'd never been particularly close to any of them; he just liked being invited to their parties. He wasn't about to hide any part of who he was just to please other people. He does, however, have a tendency to overcompensate a little by flirting outrageously with both girls and boys.

Zoe is the youngest child and only girl in her family. She is fairly close to her father, who has always doted on her, but her relationship with her mother has always been strained. Zoe's mother abides by a very rigid moral code has always had very specific ideas about who her daughter should be. She puts a lot of pressure on Zoe to do well in school and thinks that dancing is inappropriate and a waste of time.

Zoe transferred to Westerville North High School at the beginning of junior year. She initially started hanging out with the three boys because she knew being friends with two openly queer people would annoy her mother and she never misses an opportunity to rebel. She quickly found that she had a lot in common with all three of them. She and Dylan both have very strong personalities that clash occasionally. She finds Kyle intriguing, though she feels he hasn't really opened up to her yet.

Kyle is much more reserved than the other three but he's always happy to go along with their insanity. He was fairly shy when he was younger and still occasionally struggles to feel comfortable around people he doesn't know well. He hopes to become an author one day. He isn't sure when he started to think of Zoe as more than a friend, just that it happened, and he's terrified of either being rejected or ruining their friendship.


	2. Show Him What He's Getting Himself Into

**This scene happens around the same time as the first part of chapter 3, but involves characters that aren't introduced until chapter 8.**

* * *

><p>Alex sat on his bed, watching Zoe rummage around in his closet. Kyle was sitting beside him and Dylan was sitting backwards on the desk chair fiddling with Alex's sonic screwdriver-shaped torch. As soon as Alex had told the three of them he had a date that night Zoe had offered to come over and help him decide what to wear and Alex had readily accepted because he was well aware he didn't possess the gay fashion sense gene. Kyle had showed up too because he recognised that his friend was unusually nervous about this particular date and Dylan was there because… well, no one was quite sure why Dylan was there, he just was.<p>

"So are you going to tell us who this guy is?" Kyle asked, nudging Alex's shoulder with his own.

"He's no one you guys know. I'm not really sure how much I should say since he's still pretty deep in the closet."

"Well we're certainly not going to tell anyone." Dylan pointed out. "And like you said, we don't even know him."

"Ok, fine. His name's Dave, he's from Lima, he works at the store with me, he's got these really gorgeous brown eyes and an amazing smile and he's just really… I don't know, interesting I guess. It's kind of hard to put into words."

Kyle noticed that his friend's cheeks had coloured a bit. "You really like him, don't you."

"Yeah, I think I do. I don't want to get my hopes up too much though. Like I said, he's still really closeted. He completely freaked out when I asked him if he was gay. He's obviously been feeling scared and alone for a long time and I just really want to help him. I want to show him that there's absolutely nothing wrong with who he is."

"Well if anyone can help him, you can," Dylan said, his voice uncharacteristically sincere.

Alex gave him an understanding smile. It wasn't often that Dylan acknowledged the brief period of confusion he went through before he came to terms with his bisexuality.

"What about this one?" Zoe held out a shirt for the boys to inspect.

Alex grimaced. "No, too dressy. We never really clarified whether this is supposed to be an actual date or just a friends thing. I want him to be able to decide for himself what he's comfortable with when he gets here."

Dylan moved to stand beside Zoe in front of the closet. He smirked and pulled out one of what Alex's friends liked to refer to as his 'insane fanboy' t-shirts.

"You should wear one of these. Show him what he's getting himself into."

Zoe took the dark blue t-shirt from him and inspected it thoughtfully. "That might not be such a bad idea actually. This colour does look really good on you." She reached into the closet and pulled out a pair of black skinny jeans. "If you wear it with these it'll look a bit less casual."

"Plus, those jeans make your ass look good." Dylan added, causing the other three to look at him strangely. "What? Just because I don't think of you that way doesn't mean I'm blind."

Alex rolled his eyes. "Ok, that outfit looks good I guess. You guys should get going; he's going to be here in like half an hour and I still need to get changed."

The other three started to leave. Kyle turned back just before he headed out the door.

"He's going to love you," he assured Alex. "And if he doesn't, then he's obviously not good enough for you."

Alex nodded. "Thanks, bro. I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow."


	3. Compensation

**A different POV of chapter 9.**

* * *

><p>Chastity Pearson resisted the urge to punch the dashboard of her car. Although it would be satisfying, it would also probably damage her manicure.<p>

_Ugh_, that thought reminded her that she wasn't going to be able to even wear nail polish for most of the next year. She was going to be stuck in knee-length skirts, hideous vests and a goddamn _tie_ every school day. She missed her Cheerios uniform already.

She'd planned to make her own changes to the uniform she'd been provided to try to make it look a little more appealing but that prude of a teacher at the orientation day she'd just attended had made it clear that no such alterations would be permitted.

All the other new students she'd met had seemed like total losers. How could she be expected to spend her senior year at a school populated with nerdy girls and no boys whatsoever? Especially when she'd put so much effort over the last three years into working her way up the McKinley social hierarchy.

Now it was going to all be for nothing. At Crawford she'd just be the new kid.

She'd told her parents about the travesty that prom had become with the expectation that her mother would just write an angry letter to the principal like she always did, hopefully preventing senior prom from being just as disastrous. She certainly hadn't expected to be shipped off to some stuffy private school where makeup and jewellery were contraband.

Having finished wallowing in her anger, she was about to start heading back to Lima when she noticed a familiar figure climbing out of the car that had just parked behind her own.

What was Dave Karofsky doing in Westerville?

As she watched, an unfamiliar blonde boy got out of the other side of the car.

Normally she wouldn't consider such a thing worth investigating but she remembered her mother saying something strange about the Karofskies a week or two ago. And it wasn't like she had anything better to do seeing as her social life was in ruins.

She saw that they appeared to be heading towards a restaurant a few doors down from where they'd parked the car. There was something… off about the way they moved together. They just seemed to walk a little too close to each other. As they entered the restaurant she could have sworn she saw Blondie's hand brush against Karofsky's arm.

Holy crap, was it possible her useless busybody of a mother was actually right about something for once? Whatever was going on here, it seemed like it was definitely worth a closer look.

She got out of her car and walked towards the restaurant. While pretending to read the menu displayed near one of the large windows, she looked inside to see where Karofsky and his companion had gone. She was stunned to see them sitting down at a table with, of all people, Kurt Hummel and that other fag he'd taken to prom. When she recovered from the shock she reached for her phone to take a picture. No one would believe this unless she had evidence.

As she was taking the phone out of its case she heard someone clearing their throat behind her. Some fugly old guy was looking at her strangely. Crap. In her astonishment at seeing big bad Dave Karofsky dining with the school's resident homo she'd forgotten to avoid looking like a creeper.

She headed back to her car and drove around the block a couple of times before settling into a parking spot on the other side of the street. Hopefully from this position she'd be able to get a photo of them leaving together.

* * *

><p>An hour or so later she was considering giving up and going home when she glanced up from her game of Angry Birds to see the four of them leaving the restaurant. By the time she managed to switch her phone back to camera, Hummel and the preppy guy had already left. Just as she was about to actually punch the dashboard this time, she saw Karofsky look around nervously before <em>holding the other guy's hand!<em> This time she managed to get her photo. She examined it carefully. It was dark and blurry but hopefully when she blew it up on her computer it would be clear enough to get the point across.

She heard a car engine starting and realised that Karofsky and his boy toy were leaving. She decided it couldn't hurt to follow them since she was in no hurry to get home to her mother's pettiness and her father's disinterest. Besides, the more damning evidence she could get, the better.

She stayed as far back as she could while still keeping the other car in sight. When she saw it pull over she did the same. She watched as the two boys got out and walked towards a nearby playground. She quietly slipped out of her car to find somewhere she could observe them unnoticed.

* * *

><p>After another half hour of surveillance she wasn't sure whether to be disgusted or overjoyed about the number of times she'd seen them kiss. She now had more than enough photographic evidence to bring Dave Karofsky's reputation crashing down into the mud.<p>

Alright, she had her ammunition, now she had to decide the best way to fire it. If she was still at McKinley it would have been simple enough. Being able to take the credit for exposing Karofsky's dirty little secret would result in her own social status being boosted accordingly. However, the way things were, simply outing Karofsky, although satisfying, wouldn't do her any good in the long run.

The best option would probably blackmail, though she couldn't think of anything in particular she wanted from him. She supposed that didn't really matter though. As long as she possessed these photos, she _owned_ him. Who knew what he would be willing to do to keep them hidden? As long as she was able to hold them over his head, he would effectively be her own personal slave. She liked the sound of that.

It would only be fair, she reasoned. All her dreams of spending her senior year at the top of the social heap had been ruined, so of course she deserved compensation. Suddenly, this year wasn't looking so bad after all.


End file.
